The Book of Acts
The Arrest of Paul, Part 5
Acts 22:15–30
It seems like it's been forever since we last met together in our study of Acts, but I want to invite you to, once again, turn with me to chapter 22. We are in the middle of Paul's defense before the Roman officials and Jewish leaders who have accused him of being anti-Semitic and defiling the temple of God.
From that defense, we are identifying some of the ways Paul takes a negative situation and turns it into a positive witness for the Lord. So far, we've seen three things in particular. First, Paul recognizes he is where he is, even though it is a bad situation, because God put him there.
Realizing that, he embraces the situation and uses it to share the Gospel. The goal he has in mind is to place the attention on Jesus and give him the praise and exaltation that he deserves.
To accomplish that goal, he shares the testimony of what his life was like before he met Christ, how he met Christ on the Damascus road, and as we'll see tonight, what happened as a result of that meeting. We pick up his story in
verse 17
So Paul was saved and baptized as Ananias instructed him, and for the next three, he was in Arabia. At the end of those three years, he returned to Jerusalem.
We won't go into the details, but that three-year period is discussed in Galatians 1:17 and 18; and in Acts 9, we are told about his return to Jerusalem and how the church was hesitant to receive him,
So here in verse 17, he says he returned to Jerusalem, and the very first thing he mentions is praying in the temple. That’s an important detail to include because it illustrates that even after being a Christian for three years, he still holds reverence for Jewish customs such as praying in the temple.
Not only was he praying, he says he was "in a trance”, and that is an interesting word study because the Greek word is ekstasei. In other words, he said, “I was praying and I was in ecstasy.” This is a divine high.
It’s a state of being transported out of the normal senses. It’s going to a dimension that you can’t exist in apart from some kind of supernatural experience. By the way, iIt’s the same word used in Acts 10:10 where Peter went to sleep on the roof at Joppa, and saw the sheet with all the animals on it.
I draw from those verses and others that are similar that sometimes God took His choice servants to level of spiritual awareness and consciousness that is beyond the normal and natural senses of man. So this is a divine experience between God and Paul, and it's not the only time like this in the life of Paul that Scripture records .
Notice what happens:
verse 18
So Paul is in this trance, praying, and he sees God telling him to get out of Dodge! More literally, he is told to leave Jerusalem.
Now understand, he just got there. He's been in Arabia for three years, and then comes back to Jerusalem. I would guess he is anxious to be around some fellow Christians. But they're all scared of him, and rightfully so. After all, he has a reputation. And they couldn't go online and read his latest blogs about the sweet time he and the Lord were having in Arabia. They just know he kills Christians and now he's in town.
And you may remember how Barnabas steps in to calm them down and make sure Paul is accepted by the church. But things don't go so well as far as the Jews are concerned, and as we say in chapter 9, they wind up rushing him out of town because the Jews want to kill him.
Now as best I can tell, he was in Jerusalem about 15 days after this prayer meeting that he's talking about here in verse 17 and 18 takes place. So God tells him to leave town, and he stayed another two weeks, and the whole time he's there, he's creating havoc.
So why he didn’t go? He didn’t think he should. He argued with God. You ever done that?
Look what he says,
verses 19-20
He says, "You know, Lord, the more I think about this, the more I think I’d be the best guy to reach these people because they know what I used to be, and they can see the fantastic transformation I've had because of You! I need to stick around for a while and reach them for Jesus!"
But Paul is absolutely wrong! By the way, the Lord has already told him, "They will not receive your testimony.”
The circumstances look so good! Paul is the perfect example of a Jew changed by the grace of God. He knew Who Messiah was! He had personal experience and conversation with Jesus Christ!" But God said, "Get out of town because they won’t listen to you.”
Paul thought he had the circumstances on his side but we need to remember circumstances are not the best way to determine God’s will. We can only see the ones that are obvious. We can't know what's coming next or what this set of circumstances will bring to bear on down the road.
God does and that's why He knows better than we do what we ought to do and not do. Paul thought he knew what needed to happen and what he ought to be doing and how people would respond.
But when he disobeyed God and tried to do it his own way, everything went wrong and he had to get out of town to save his life. I learn from that to not always bank on circumstances because they are not the best way to determine God's will.
After all, the Lord had other plans for Paul.
verse 21
So here we discover God's calling on the life of Paul.
Now keep in mind, Paul is offering his defense. This is God's calling on his life! And he reminds them,
"You can’t accuse me of being anti-Semitic; I was raised a Jew, I followed all the patterns. You can’t accuse me of pursuing Christianity. It was God Who pursued me. And if you don’t like the fact that I’m a missionary to the Gentiles, take it up with God because He’s the one that called me to do that. IN fact, I even argued with Him about it!"
It is a very powerful testimony to the power and sovereignty of God.
Now, they already hated Paul, and how he's telling them that God, their God, by the way, had sent him to preach to the Gentiles. That hated the Gentiles, and they hated Paul, and now they hated him even more for being a Jew that preached to the Gentiles.
And when he said the word “Gentiles,” they had had enough. They were not going to stand by while Paul said that Gentiles and Jews are one in Christ, and they didn’t have to become Jews, and they didn’t have to get circumcised, they didn’t have to keep the law.” That absolutely infuriated them.
4. The Action of the People
When he said, “God sent me to the Gentiles", they blew their lids!
verse 22
All the logic, all the reason and the testimony of Paul was consumed in the flames of prejudice. They weren’t angry because he made proselytes; they made proselytes. They were angry because he offered equality to the Gentiles apart from Judaism. They couldn’t tolerate it; they couldn’t stand it.
verse 23
That must have looked kind of ridiculous, don't you think? They're running around half-naked throwing dirt in the air!
But there is something more going on here than just being upset and acting like a fool, adn we get a little hint into what it is in
verse 20
So when Stephen was killed, Paul says he guarded the clothes of those who were killing him. Apparently, whenever they stoned somebody, they took off their outer garment so they could really let the rocks fly.
And I think the reason they tore off their clothes was because they intended to stone Paul. So why did they throw dirt? Obviously, there weren’t any rocks handy, so they just grabbed whatever was there. , They were so infuriated, in such a frenzy, that they just grabbed handfuls of dirt and threw dirt clods instead of stones.
What a scene! How stupid and irrational can you be?
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to picture the scene: the Jews are fired up and throwing dirt, Paul is chained to Roman guards, who surely were trying to calm down the situation. Poor old Claudius Lysias, the Roman official in charge is wondering what in the world he should do! After all, chances are he couldn't even understand what Paul was saying because he was speaking in Hebrew.
So he decides the best way to get to the bottom of what's happening is torture.
verse 24
Claudius, figuring Paul must have done something terrible, judging by the reaction of the Jews, says, “I’ll scourge him, and that’ll make him confess, and we’ll find out what he’s done.” The flagellum of the Romans was a horrible thing: a stick covered with leather, attached to leather thongs that held bits and pieces of bone and metal that were used to lash the back until it was ripped and raw.
verse 25a
The word bound has the implication of stretching. That’s what they did. They would stretch the man’s body to all extreme, so that his body would be drawn taught. That way, the lashes would cause the skin to separate immediately, and cut right into the flesh and the muscle and tissue.
verse 25b
Now as far as we know, Paul had never experienced a Roman beating with the flagellum. We know from his own testimony he was beaten five times by the Jews and the Romans had beaten him three times with rods, which was a bunch of sticks tied together, but he’d never had the flagellum.
Paul had never been scourged because it was a crime to scourge a Roman. They were protected by Roman law from ever going through punishment by flagellum. In fact, the law further stipulated that any Roman who scourged another Roman would be executed.
So when Paul said, “Is it lawful to do this to an uncondemned Roman, he immediately had their attention.
And I don't know if you've noticed it or not, but Paul's attitude just amazes me. Even though the Jews hated him and despised him, he loved them, and did everything he could to reach them for Christ.
In fact, he didn’t say one thing in that whole speech that was offensive or would alienate them.
Even though they hated him, and even though they had beaten him, and as he even stood there and spoke, his face was puffed and black and blue and bruised and blood was on his clothes from the beating he’d had before the Romans got to him, he loved them.
And now, with the Romans, rather than demanding his rights and yelling in his defense, he just asks a simple question. In fact, I'm convinced, it they had disregarded Roman law, Paul would’ve accepted the punishment.
He knew he was not better than Christ. In fact, he said he bore in his body the marks of Jesus Christ. He said, “The sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be ours hereafter.” In Colossians 1, he said, “I bear in my body the afflictions of Christ.” Philippians 2, he said, “If I have to suffer on the sacrifice of your joy, I rejoice.”
In other words, to Paul, suffering brought glory to God. He had the God-given ability to endure all kinds of pain and to not lose his joy. Put him in stocks, and he'll sing a song of praise. Put him in prison, and he'll have a songfest!
He had an ability to tolerate pain in the midst of persecution that’s unreal. But he didn’t have a martyr complex. If there was a way to escape the pain, he pursued it, why reminds us of another way to take a negative situation and turn it to a positive witness, and that is
- don't develop a martyr's complex
Don't go out looking for bad or difficult situations so you can brag about how much you suffer for the Lord or how high a price you had to pay to be obedient.
By the way, by Paul claiming his rights as a Roman, he saved the life of a fellow Roman.
verses 26-27
I find it interesting that God had prepared and equipped Paul for every situation that developed when he has faithful and determined to be obedient to God's call on his life.
No wonder he wrote what he did in 1 Corinthians 10:13 about how "God will never allow you to suffer above that you are able, but will, with every trial or temptation, make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.”
God fits every man for everything He takes him through.
And notice,
verse 28
This guy says, "Man, I bought my Roman citizenship. It means a lot to me. You realize what I almost did? I almost lost my citizenship or my life."
And Paul quietly responds, "That’s interesting, I was free born.” We don't know how Paul’s father become a Roman citizen, but it's another of those details that God made sure was in place in preparation for Paul's eventual service to Him.
verse 29
Now, before we close, let me show you something giving a positive testimony in a negative situation.
First, you have to accept the situation is from God. Next, take advantage of the God-given opportunity. Three, do everything you can to find common ground with your hearers. Four, exalt the Lord, so that if people reject, they’re rejecting God, not you. Five, don't develop a martyr's mentality, and six, keep you attitude right.
How many times have we been in a situation where you had an opportunity to witness, and yet all we could think of was being safe or arguing your oint or not losing your standing or popularity!
But I see in Paul this attitude of selfless love for those around him. He did everything to win their hearts. To the Jews, he was everything that he could’ve been to win them.
So where did he learn that? he learned it from the One who, when dying on a cross, looked out to the people who spit on Him, and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
That’s the only attitude that’ll ever make you effective in a negative situation. When you love people so much you’re willing to sacrifice everything you have for their sake: your ego, your popularity, everything, then you’ll have a positive testimony in a negative situation that God will bless.
Let’s pray.
